Coconut Shortbread with Cardomom

I’m on lots of recipe email lists. I mean LOTS. Most of them get opened, gawked at, then filed away never to be seen again. This one, however, got special treatment – when this email arrived, I opened it, gawked at it, realised I had all the ingredients in my cupboard, and immediately went into the kitchen to make it. We were eating it for afternoon tea that same day. Love that! So without further ado, I present to you… Coconut shortbread with cardomom!

Coconut Shortbread with Cardamom

Ingredients:

1½ cups all-purpose flour

½ cup coconut oil

¼ cup coconut milk, cold

1¼ cups icing sugar

3 tsp pure vanilla extract

¼ tsp salt

1 tsp powdered green cardamom

Icing sugar for dusting (optional)

Method:

Mix together the flour, cardamom powder, and salt.

Cream together the coconut oil and the powdered sugar with a hand mixer or in a stand mixer until it’s soft and fluffy, about two minutes.

Add the coconut milk and vanilla and mix well.

Add the flour in three batches, mixing well with a spatula after each addition.

Place the shortbread dough in the pan. Press with your fingers into an even layer all the way to the corners of the pan.

Bake the shortbread in a preheated 150c oven for 50 minutes or until it is slightly darker at the edges.

Remove to a rack, cool for 10 minutes, and then, using a sharp knife, cut into diamond shapes without going all the way through the shortbread (I cut into squares, and did go all the way through. Who cares, it still worked!)